Cuba: Performance artist Tania Bruguera harassed by Cuban government despite forced exile

07 December: We, the undersigned civil society organisations, call upon the Cuban government and Cuban State entities to immediately cease all efforts to discredit Cuban artist Tania Bruguera and the IV INSTAR Film Festival, being held in 7 countries worldwide. This incident is the most recent of many where the Cuban government has attempted to suppress critical forms of free thought and expression that diverge from the state’s singular and totalising narrative, both on the island and abroad.

A renowned multidisciplinary artist whose work has been shown at the Tate Modern in London, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and the New Museum in New York, Bruguera was forced to leave Cuba in 2021 as a result of government pressure and persecution for her artistic work. Currently a senior lecturer and affiliate faculty at Harvard University, Bruguera is the founder and director of the Hannah Arendt Institute of Artivism (INSTAR). In 2019, INSTAR put on the first edition of their film festival, an annual event that seeks to support and showcase independent film production, particularly spotlighting countries where freedom of expression is under threat.

For well over a decade, Tania Bruguera has faced persistent harassment by the Cuban government. This campaign to delegitimise her began in Cuba and has continued during her exile from 2021 onwards.

The Cuban government aims to limit her creative and professional spaces worldwide. Extraordinary efforts are currently underway to discredit INSTAR, with state-controlled media outlets suggesting that the festival and its accompanying activities constitute an attack on Cuban culture and an endorsement of terrorism, further asserting alleged links to foreign intelligence agencies.

Coordinated social media smear messaging by the Minister of Culture Alpidio Alonso Grau and Cuba’s First Lady Lis Cuesta Peraza, among other public officials and government-affiliated artists, have depicted Cuban “artivists” (artist-activists) and independent filmmakers participating in this year’s INSTAR Film Festival, December 4-10, as "unhappy (unfortunate) and uncreative." In addition, Cuban cultural institutions have launched a mass mailing campaign to cultural institutions and individuals around the world, in an attempt to discredit the festival and its organisers (email documentation has been provided to PEN International and the Artists at Risk Connection (ARC).

Cuba is one of the few countries in the region that imprisons artists, journalists, and writers for exercising their freedom of expression, according to the data compiled by PEN International and ARC, along with information from international civil society organizations. These individuals face severe harassment and persecution, as documented in the recent Método Cuba report, among other punitive measures imposed on those who question the institutional order. These coordinated efforts, aligned with broader patterns of suppression by the Cuban government that target any form of dissident or diverse thought, particularly when expressed through art and writing, were also addressed during the United Nations 44th session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which included a joint human rights submission by a coalition of civil society organizations, among them PEN International and ARC.

We, the undersigned organisations, call on the Cuban government to immediately cease the aggressive harassment of Cuban artists, both within the country and in exile. In particular, we call on the Cuban authorities to stop the ongoing smear campaign against Tania Bruguera and the INSTAR festival, and to put an end to all state-sponsored actions aimed at undermining free thought and artistic expression among the Cuban people. Safeguarding art and artists is imperative, as they constitute vital components of a flourishing, equitable, and healthy society.

Signatories